GRAMBLING – Take it all in, GramFam. Once the clock strikes all zeroes at Saturday’s Celebration Bowl, you will have watched the closing of one of the most successful chapters in Grambling State football history.

An end of a short era, but also the dawn of a lasting legacy.

For the final time, redshirt senior quarterback DeVante Kincade and senior running back Martez Carter will take the field in the Black and Gold with their fellow G-Men to square off with undefeated North Carolina A&T (11-0) for the HBCU National Championship at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

It’s fitting the that last time Carter and Kincade don the “G” helmet that the stakes are high. Because arguably, there have been few that have recently made a bigger impact on the historic Grambling football program than the backfield duo.

Don’t mistake it, what head coach Broderick Fobbs has been able to do and how he’s elevated his alma mater back to where many believe GSU belongs has been nothing short of remarkable. Any conversation of most impactful people certainly begins with the former Tiger running back that played under the legendary coach Eddie Robinson.

Fobbs along with his assistant coaches are responsible for recruiting and convincing Kincade, a transfer from Ole Miss, to come to Grambling, an historic black college competing on the FCS level, for this final two years of eligibility. The coaches also saw what all Carter, a former walk-on from local Richwood High School in Monroe, Louisiana, could bring to the table in helping the team win 38 games since 2014, earn back-to-back SWAC championships and a national title last season. He’s since earned the nickname “Mr. Excitement.”

MORE | Follow USA Today Network and News-Star Grambling State beat reporter Cory Diaz's live blog of the Celebration Bowl Saturday at thenewsstar.com.

On the field, that’s what everybody sees and no one can deny the talent that the quarterback-running back tandem possess. Competing in the SWAC, arguably every Saturday Carter and Kincade are the two best players on the field.

A starter the last three years, the tailback has rushed for more than 800 yards each season and amassed 2,616 career yards on the ground along with 29 touchdowns, including two straight 10-touchdown years. Carter, who’s recently been projected as high as a third-round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, has racked up 3,018 total offensive yards and 5,266 total all-purpose yards.

“Anytime I ask him to make a play he steps up, and I think that has a lot to do with how good of a player he is and how hard he reaches down deep in order to get it done,” Fobbs said of Carter, who’s been picked as All-SWAC first team at running back, earlier this season. “It says a lot about his heart."

Grambling has gone 22-2 the last seasons and Kincade has played a major role in that run. By throwing for 5,702 total passing yards, 52 touchdowns and just seven interceptions in 24 games since transferring in and taking over at quarterback in the spring of 2016, the Dallas native and four-star recruit out of high school has helped the emergence of GSU’s offensive scheme become one of the more prolific in FCS during that stretch. Kincade, who has been named the Offensive Player of the Year in the SWAC two straight seasons and is a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, has collected another 579 yards and 10 scores rushing the ball.

While the list of on-the-field accomplishments are a mile long for both Kincade and Carter, where they have made their biggest impact Grambling State is off the field. Coming from an SEC football program to Grambling, college football fans and high school recruits alike have kept a close watch on Kincade, Fobbs said.

“He has been big. He’s been huge for recruiting. Just has been a dynamic football player for us, but also an even better player when it comes to bringing in other players,” Fobbs said. “When you look at some of his social media posts and the things he says about our great institution and our program, if it’s good enough for DeVante Kincade, who’s a four-star student athlete and one of the top quarterbacks in the country out of high school, a lot of other kids are starting to say that wouldn’t be a bad place for me if it’s good enough for him. All of the accolades he’s been able to receive, Player of the Year and all of the things he’s gotten, if you can do it here, you can do it on the next level.